Maureen Towey

Short Film, 2019 Premiere

Written & Directed by Maureen Towey

A visit from Lil’s family inspires an ecstatic moment of clarity.

+++

This film was inspired by a passage in a book where a woman who is deep into her struggle with dementia, has a outpouring of language that may seem nonsensical, but is actually rapturous and clear. It reminded me of a Beckett play and I was haunted by the words until I adapted them into a script.

I was shocked the caliber of my collaborators on this. The cast alone were a wonder: Mary Beth Peil, Linda Emond, Phillipa Soo, Marsha Stephanie Blake and Jeffrey DeMunn. They are ALL incredible to watch and made this film richer in each moment.

My old friend, Sarah Broshar, who is Steven Spielberg's editor (!!) agreed to edit this together and we worked joyfully in her sunny LA home office. Pulitzer Prize winner Caroline Shaw crafted an incredible score. And the power team of Charlotte Hornsby and Charlotte Royer steered the gorgeous cinematography and production design.

This film traveled to festivals around the world and is still one of my favorite things I have made.

+++

Adapted from ‘Making an Exit’ by Elinor Fuchs

Starring Mary Beth Peil, Linda Emond, Phillipa Soo, Marsha Stephanie Blake and Jeffrey DeMunn

Produced by Valerie Steinberg

Executive Producers: Leah Wagner, Elaine Thomas

Original Music by Caroline Shaw

Cinematography by Charlotte Hornsby

Film Editing by Sarah Broshar

Production Design by Charlotte Royer

Costume Design by Sarah Maiorino

NEW YORK TIMES REVIEW: "EXHILARATING"

Performed at:

BAM Next Wave Festival, New York

Barbican, London

Eindhoven Festival, The Netherlands

Asheville, NC (home of the original Black Mountain College)

+++

Brooklyn Youth Chorus
Choral director and conductor Dianne Berkun-Menaker
Created by Bryce Dessner
Co-curated by Bryce Dessner & Richard Reed Parry
Directed by Maureen Towey
Music by Bryce Dessner, Tim Hecker, John King, Nico Muhly, Richard Reed Parry, Caroline Shaw, and Aleksandra Vrebalov

At North Carolina’s Black Mountain College, erstwhile commune and artistic playground of John Cage, Merce Cunningham, Robert Rauschenberg and many others a spirit of radical democracy prevailed. Students and teachers shared roles and work, boundaries between disciplines dissolved, and art bled into life, nurturing an atmosphere of unfettered creative collaboration.

In Black Mountain Songs, performed by the Brooklyn Youth Chorus, commissioned and produced by BAM and the Brooklyn Youth Chorus, and curated by Bryce Dessner and Richard Reed Parry, that collective thread is renewed. Seven composers—Dessner, Parry, Pulitzer Prize winner Caroline Shaw, Nico Muhly, Aleksandra Vrebalov, John King, and Tim Hecker—collaborate with director Maureen Towey and filmmaker Matt Wolf to create an expansive choral and visual work that celebrates and rekindles Black Mountain’s utopian spirit.

Creative Director, The Suburbs

2009-2012

Contributed to projects such as:

-- Internationally touring stage show and Grammys performance

-- Summer Into Dust installation for Coachella; collaborating with Chris Milk, the Moment Factory, and the Creators Project

-- Ground-breaking interactive video The Wilderness Downtown; collaborating with Chris Milk and Google

-- AMEX ‘Unstaged’ live broadcast at Madison Square Garden; collaborating with Terry Gilliam 

-- Scenes from the Suburbs (Spike Jonze short film); co-producer of Behind the Scenes extras; photo commission for Grammy-winning DVD design

-- Commissioner for photo and merchandise

-- Producer of several Haiti-based charitable projects including the Haitian Creole translation of the BBC Planet Earth series        

I directed this video when I was VERY pregnant.

In context, that actually made perfect sense because Sharon wanted a video that celebrated her past in New York and jumpstarted a new chapter in her life as a mom in a new city. Many of the locations she chose were also places where I had worked and played in my twenties so it was a nostalgia trip for all of us. Sharon is a dream to work with and so was her 'younger self', played by wonderful Rachel Trachtenburg.

+++

Music Video for “Seventeen”

Director: Maureen Towey

Producer: Miranda Kahn

Editor: Livio Sanchez, Cutters Studios

Executive Producers: Aaron Dean Eisenberg, Zeke Hutchins, Kraegan Graves

Director of Photography: Frances Chen, Charlotte Hornsby

1st Assistant Director: Laura Klein

Directed by Maureen Towey

Written by Anne Basting 

Co-produced by Sojourn Theater, UWM-Milwaukee, Luther Manor Retirement Community

The Penelope Project was a collaborative effort to dramatically raise the bar on activities in long term care. Using the story of Penelope from Homer’s Odyssey, our team of staff, residents, artists, and students engaged an entire long term care community in creativity and learning. Everyone was welcome.

Discussion groups, movement exercises, visual art, stories, and music all emerged from this multi-year project that culminated in the performance of FINDING PENELOPE, a professionally-produced play staged inside the care facility. Over 400 people attended the performances. The Penelope documentary is currently touring the country and the Penelope book is under commission from the University of Iowa Press.  

Here are some links/clips to learn more:

Trailer

Article in FutureAge

Third Coast Digest Podcast

For The New York Times, I helped to found and lead The Daily 360, the only series in the world to create professional VR journalism on a daily basis. We assembled an extraordinary team of producers and editors in collaborating with reporters around the world.  

We made over 400 short-form immersive pieces, samples are here.

For those who are deaf, music is not just about sound. 

For this groundbreaking VR work, which was awarded a Lumiere award for Best VR Documentary of 2017, I collaborated with scholar Rachel Kolb to create an immersive film that illustrated her experience of receiving cochlear implants.

Produced for The New York Times/NYTVR

Director: Maureen Towey

Narrator: Rachel Kolb

Illustrator/Animator: James Merry of Squint/Opera

Contributing Photo Editor and Producer  

Producer for Great Performers 2016 Oscars portfolio.  Directed and photographed by Daniel Askill.  10 films, 10 photos, 1 virtual reality film. Starring Melissa McCarthy, Michael Fassbender, Charlize Theron, Rooney Mara, Jacob Tremblay, Mya Taylor, Jason Mitchell, Benicio del Toro, Kristen Wiig, and Lily Tomlin.  

Contributing Photo Editor for 2015 Voyages issue collaborating with photographers Glenna Gordon, George Steinmetz, and Bieke Depoorter.  

Contributing Photo Editor for 2016 Olympics Issue.  Collaborating with photographers Erik Madigan Heck, Devin Yalkin, and Catherine Opie.